Adventure Books like The Da Vinci Code and Eragon

Try these books if you're looking for:

• adventure books
• books that read like The Da Vinci Code  and Eragon

The Rule of Four 
By Ian Caldwell
F CALDWELL
The diary researches Sullivan and Harris obtain just might contain the key to the code that will help solve an ancient mathematical labyrinth. But then there are the murders and disappearances. As the diary pulls them into a web of intrigue they begin to realize just how dangerous the book actually is.

The Tourist 
By Olen Steinhaurer
F STEINHAU
Milo Weaver, former CIA “tourist”, is content with his past 6 years working a desk job for the CIA. When an international hit man is arrested, his former world and new one collide. This is a fast paced espionage thriller.

Ex-Libris 
By Ross King
F KING
This book has all the key elements for a literary thriller, mystery, history and religion. In 1660 London, bookseller Isaac Inchbold gets drawn into the dark world of ciphers, smugglers and forgeries while searching for a lost manuscript.

The Warrior Heir 
By Cinda Williams Chima
YA CHIMA Heir #1
Jack believed he was normal until that fateful day he forgets to take his medicine. His life quickly turns chaotic as he tries to sort out just who or what he has become.

Character-Strong Fiction

Try these books if you're looking for:

• fiction with great characterization
• stories that transport you to a different time or place
• focus on characters, relationships, story, action, events

The Little Lady Agency 
By Hester Browne
F BROWNE Little L #1
Reviled by her snobby family but adored by her friends, unemployed etiquette expert Melissa Romney-Jones reinvents herself as Honey, and goes into business as a matchmaker for inept bachelors. I love the characters in this one. The second book is my least favorite in the series, but the third book is worth the wait.

Terrier 
By Tamora Pierce
YAF PIERCE Beka Coo #1
When sixteen-year-old Beka becomes “Puppy” to a pair of “Dogs,” as the Provost’s Guards are called, she uses her police training, natural abilities, and a touch of magic to help them solve the case of a murdered baby in Tortall’s Lower City. I’m generally not much of a fantasy reader, but this one gripped me from the beginning. The characters are a lot of fun and the plot is intense and gripping. I was sad when I finished the last book. The audio for these are excellent.

Forgotten 
By Catherine McKenzie
F MCKENZIE
Emma Tupper goes on an African vacation but falls ill and is stranded there for six months. In the meantime everyone back home thinks she’s died and her apartment has been leased to a handsome photographer. Throwing herself into her work, Emma struggles to reconnect with her friends and rebuild her life. I loved the way this book made me think about what I would do in her situation. It created a lot of natural empathy.

The Eyre Affair 
By Jasper Fforde
SCI-FI FFORDE Thursday #1
In a world where one can literally get lost in literature, Thursday Next, a Special Operative in literary detection, tries to stop the world’s Third Most Wanted criminal from kidnapping characters, including Jane Eyre, from works of literature. The synopsis doesn’t really do the book justice, but it is exceptionally hard to describe. Jasper Fforde can be trusted to take you on a wild, witty, and often bizarre ride that is both fun and extremely intelligent. Also try his YA series, The Last Dragonslayer.

Popular Adult and YA Fiction

Try these books if you're looking for:

• popular fiction
• adult fiction
• young adult fiction

Sundays at Tiffany's 
By James Patterson
F PATTERSO
Whether writing edge-of-one's seat novels of hard-edged suspense or heartwarming tales of romance and relationships, James Patterson captivates male and female readers alike with sympathetic characters, short chapters, and compelling, labyrinthine plots.

Lake News 
By Barbara Delinsky
F DELINSKY
Many people who love Danielle Steel also love Barbara Delinsky. She’s known for writing fiction focused on contemporary women and their lives and relationships. Delinsky's skillfully developed characters are central to her stories, as they struggle to resolve difficulties in their lives.

Cuckoo’s Calling 
By Robert Galbraith
F GALBRAIT
Robert Galbraith is actually a pseudonym for J. K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter. In this mystery, Rowling writes about a hard-boiled private investigator, Cormoran Strike. The forgiving temp, Robin, quickly proves useful when they get a case: a famous young model supposedly jumped from the top of her penthouse apartment, but her brother believes she was murdered. Entering the realm of the mega-rich, Strike and Robin question celebrities and fashionistas, trying to uncover the truth.

Fast-Paced Adventure with Teenage Male Protagonist

Try these books if you're looking for:

• fast-paced plot
• adventure
• teen male protagonist

Middleworld 
By Jon Voelkel
YA F VOELKEL
When Max Murphy discovers that his archaeologist parents have mysteriously disappeared while excavating an ancient Mayan site in Central America, he sets off in search of them, with the assistance of a Mayan girl named Lola.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp 
By Richard Yancey
YA F YANCEY Alfred_K #1
Through a series of dangerous and violent misadventures, teenage loser Alfred Kropp rescues King Arthur's legendary sword Excalibur from the forces of evil.

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians 
By Brandon Sanderson
YA F SANDERSO Alcatraz #1
On his thirteenth birthday, foster child Alcatraz Smedry receives a bag of sand which is immediately stolen by the evil Librarians who are trying to take over the world, and Alcatraz is introduced to his grandfather and his own special talent, and told that he must use it to save civilization.

SilverFin: A James Bond Adventure 
By Charles Higson
YA F HIGSON Young Bo #1
Prequel to the adventures of James Bond, 007, introduces the young James when he is just starting boarding school in England and is about to become involved in his first adventure.

Fantasy Books with Complex Worlds

Try these books if you're looking for:

• fantasy books with complex worlds
• well-written
• focus on story, action, or events
• reads like Brandon Sanderson, Robin McKinley, Anne Bishop, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Patricia Wrede, and J.K. Rowling.

The Iron Tower 
 By Dennis L. McKiernan
SCI-FI MCKIERNA Iron Tow #1-3
Tuck Underbank is a Warrow--think a hobbit with shoes and “large jewel-like eyes” -- living in the peaceful Boskydells. When an unnaturally cold winter strikes and the evil Modru threatens the world, he and a number of his fellow Thornwalkers go to the High King's aid. But a vast expanse of lightless blizzard called the Dimmendark (sounds bad, doesn't it?) is spreading over the land, and Tuck soon finds that the “dark tide” is going to swamp them all. Despite the fact that they're tiny and temperamental, the Warrows get included in the military forces. But the High King doesn't have enough warriors to hold off the horde of slobbering monsters who are coming to attack. And the battle goes horribly wrong, separating the friends from one another and possibly dooming them all.

Mystic and Rider 
By Sharon Shinn
SCI-FI SHINN Twelve #1
The Mystic woman Senneth, accompanied by a team of Shapeshifters and Riders, is sent by the king into the land of Gillengaria to investigate reports of retaliation against those who use magic.

Theft of Swords 
By Michael J. Sullivan
SCI-FI SULLIVAN Riyria #1
Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, are running for their lives when they're framed for the death of the king. Trapped in a conspiracy that goes beyond the overthrow of a tiny kingdom, their only hope is unraveling an ancient mystery before it's too late.

The Demon King 
By Cinda Williams Chima
YA F CHIMA Seven Re #1
Relates the intertwining fates of former street gang leader Han Alister and headstrong Princess Raisa, as Han takes possession of an amulet that once belonged to an evil wizard and Raisa uncovers a conspiracy in the Grey Wolf Court.

Clean Historical Romance

Try these books if you're looking for:

• romance
• historical fiction
• strong female characters
• clean read

The Blue Castle 
By L.M. Montgomery
YA F MONTGOME
When Valancy Stirling is diagnosed with a heart condition, she decides to throw aside her family’s overbearing standards and live exactly as she likes, much to her staid family’s dismay. But it’s when her rebellion puts her in contact with Barney Snaith, the town pariah, that Valancy’s new life truly begins.

Snobbery With Violence 
By Marion Chesney
MYSTERY CHESNEY Edwardia #1
When a marriage proposal appears imminent for the beautiful--if rebellious--Lady Rose Summer, her father wants to know if her suitor's intentions are honorable. He calls on Captain Harry Cathcart to do some intelligence work. But when Harry suspects a murder has been committed, he must seek help from Superintendent Kerridge of the Scotland Yard and Lady Rose herself.

Courting Miss Lancaster 
By Sarah Eden
ROMANCE EDEN
Harry Windover knows he can never make an offer for his adored Athena Lancaster, but when her brother asks him to help find a suitable suitor for Athena, Harry concocts a plot to help her see his own sterling qualities against a backdrop of alarming suitors.

Replica 
By Jenna Black
YA F BLACK
Sixteen-year-old Nadia lives a privileged life in the Corporate States, formerly the United States of America, but when her betrothed is killed and then wakes up in the replication tanks, the pair sets out to find a killer while keeping the secrets of human replication technology from the dangerous people who run their world.

Philosophical and Informative Reads

Try these books if you're looking for:

• philosophical fiction
• page-turning non-fiction
• informative, fast-paced fiction

Sophie’s World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy 
By Jostein Gaarder
F GAARDER
Finding two thought-inducing philosophical questions in her mailbox, Sophie enrolls in a correspondence course with a mysterious philosopher, and begins receiving some equally strange letters. SOPHIE’S WORLD was written by a philosophy teacher named Jostein Gaarder to teach readers the beauty of philosophical discourse. Gaarder presents philosophy in a clear, cogent way, using Sophie's and Hilde's experiences to illustrate his points.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance 
By Robert M. Pirsig
BIO PIRSIG
While cycling through the Western States, a disillusioned American questions the meaning of existence after confronting the ghost of his former, uninstitutionalized self. A pop philosophy classic.

Outliers: The Story of Success 
By Malcolm Gladwell
302 GLA
Identifies the qualities of successful people, posing theories about the cultural, family, and idiosyncratic factors that shape high achievers, in a resource that covers such topics as the secrets of software billionaires and why the Beatles earned their fame.

The Lucy Variations 
By Sara Zarr
YA F ZARR
Sixteen-year-old San Franciscan Lucy Beck-Moreau once had a promising future as a concert pianist. Her chance at a career has passed, and she decides to help her ten-year-old piano prodigy brother, Gus, map out his own future, even as she explores why she enjoyed piano in the first place. A fascinating look into the world of competitive young musicians and the pressure placed upon them.

Life as We Knew It 
By Susan Beth Pfeffer
YA F Pfeffer Last Sur #1
Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. This novel imagines would survival would really be like at the end of the world, straight down to the food storage.

Modern Classics

Try these books if you're looking for:

• modern classics
• adventure stories
• historical fiction
• dystopian fiction

Wolf Hall 
By Hilary Mantel
F MANTEL
A detailed look into the life and times of Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII in the 1520s, in particular the events leading up to the King's marriage to Anne Boleyn and the role Cromwell played in those events.

Handmaid’s Tale 
By Margaret Atwood
F ATWOOD
In a future world where the birth rate has declined, fertile women are rounded up, indoctrinated as handmaids, and forced to bear children to prominent men.

Rules of Civility 
By Amor Towles
F TOWLES
A chance encounter with a handsome banker in a jazz bar on New Year's Eve 1938 catapults Wall Street secretary Katey Kontent into the upper echelons of New York society, where she befriends a shy multi-millionaire, an Upper East Side ne'er-do-well, and a single-minded widow.

Dystopian YA Books

Try these books if you're looking for:

• dystopia
• young adult novels
• focus on characters and relationships, story, action, or events
• read like Divergent, Maze Runner, Cinder, Unwind, Ender's Game

5th Wave 
By Rick Yancey
YA F YANCEY
Cassie Sullivan, the survivor of an alien invasion, must rescue her young brother from the enemy with help from a boy who may be one of them. 

Glitch 
By Heather Anastasiu
YA F ANASTASI Glitch #1
In the Community, where implanted computer chips have erased human emotions and thoughts are replaced by a feed from the Link network, Zoe starts to malfunction, or glitch, and begins having her own thoughts, feelings, identity--and telekinetic powers.

Pathfinder 
By Orson Scott Card
YA F CARD Pathfind #1
Thirteen-year-old Rigg has a secret ability to see the paths of others' pasts, but revelations after his father's death set him on a dangerous quest that brings new threats from those who would either control his destiny or kill him.

Life as We Knew It 
By Susan Beth Pfeffer
YA F PFEFFER Last Sur #1
Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.

Fun Romances and a Non-Fiction Adventure

Try these books if you're looking for:

• romance
• fun
• light, but with some complexity
• not too much physicality
• read like Marina Adair, Robin Bielman, Deanna Raybourne

Queen of Babble 
By Meg Cabot
F CABOT
Lizzie Nichols discovers that her inability to keep her mouth shut has landed her in hot water when she aggravates her unfaithful boyfriend, is stranded in London, and takes a job as a bartender for a catered wedding at a French chateau. This title is also available as an ebook on Overdrive.

Can You Keep a Secret? 
By Sophie Kinsella
F KINSELLA
Terrified by a rough take-off, Emma Corrigan spills her darkest secrets to a stranger on an airplane. But come Monday morning, Emma's office is abuzz about the arrival of Jack Harper, the company's elusive CEO. Suddenly Emma is face-to-face with the stranger from the plane, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her. This title is also available as an ebook on Overdrive.

The Rosie Project 
By Graeme Simsion
F SIMSION
Don Tillman, a professor of genetics, sets up a project designed to find him the perfect wife, starting with a sixteen-page, scientifically valid questionnaire. Then he meets Rosie, who is everything he's not looking for in a wife, but an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate to help Rosie find her biological father. Don comes to realize that despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love, it finds you.

Venetia 
By Georgette Heyer
ROMANCE HEYER
Venetia Lanyon--beautiful, intelligent and independent--lives in comfortable seclusion in rural Yorkshire with her precocious brother Aubrey, but when she meets the dashing, dangerous rake Lord Damerel, her well-ordered life is turned upside down. This title is also available as an ebook on Overdrive.

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon 
By David Grann
918.1104 GRA
In 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization. He never returned. Over the years countless perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called “The Lost City of Z.” In this masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, journalist David Grann interweaves the spellbinding stories of Fawcett’s quest for “Z” and his own journey into the deadly jungle, as he unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century. This title is also available as an ebook on Overdrive.

You may also enjoy these titles:
Hero at Large by Janet Evanovich (ebook available)
Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes
Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie (ebook available)

Chick-Lit and Fantasy with Happy Endings

Try these books if you're looking for:

• chick lit
• happy endings
• fantasy
• read like Jane Austen, Eragon, Sarah Eden

Eon 
By Alison Goodman
YA F GOODMAN
Eon has a secret, keeping it will result in either life or death. This coming of age novel takes place in feudal Asia, during a time when dragons still exist and men are the supreme rulers of everything. Could all of that be about to change??? With a strong protagonist, shrewd evil villain and unique supporting characters, this is a great fantasy in which to escape. Do not be discouraged if you think the beginning moves a bit slow. The adventure picks up quite nicely.

Persuasion: A Latter-day Tale 
By Rebecca H. Jamison
ROMANCE JAMISON
Eight years ago, Anne told Neil Wentworth she’d marry him. The next day, bowing under her parents’ disapproval and her own fear that she didn’t know how to have a happy marriage, especially after watching her parents’ marriage dissolve, she broke it off. Though they went their separate ways, Anne never forgot him or found anyone else. Now Neil’s back…This is a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s classic.

The Apothecary’s Daughter 
By Julie Klassen
F KLASSEN
Set in England when society’s rules allowed women little advancement of the mind or spirit, Lilly Haswell tries to balance two worlds. Lilly is a sensible, intelligent, strong willed young woman who has had much family responsibility set on her shoulders. Her wealthy Aunt and Uncle offer her a “dream come true” when they invite her to stay with them in London. Sometimes life just does not work out like the fairy tales and she is suddenly called home. Strong characters, attention to detail describing the life and customs of England and the apothecary’s world plus a fun plot make this an enjoyable read.

Teen Adventures with a Female Lead

Try these books if you're looking for:

• teen books
• adventure books
• female lead

Keturah and Lord Death 
By Martine Leavitt
YA F LEAVITT
When Lord Death comes to claim sixteen-year-old Keturah while she is lost in the King's Forest, she charms him with her story and is granted a twenty-four hour reprieve in which to seek her one true love.

Wither 
By Lauren DeStefano
YA F DESTEFAN Chemical #1
After modern science turns every human into a genetic time bomb with men dying at age twenty-five and women dying at age twenty, girls are kidnapped and married off in order to repopulate the world.

Birthmarked 
By Caragh M. O’Brien
YA F O’BRIEN Birthmar #1
When her midwife mother is forcibly taken away by the very people she serves, sixteen-year-old Gaia Stone starts to question the role of the Enclave and whether it deserves the loyalty her family has so faithfully given.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox 
By Mary Pearson
YA F PEARSON Jenna Fo #1
In the not-too-distant future, when biotechnological advances have made synthetic bodies and brains possible but illegal, a seventeen-year-old girl, recovering from a serious accident and suffering from memory lapses, learns a startling secret about her existence.

Under the Never Sky 
By Veronica Rossi
YA F ROSSI Under #1
Aria and Perry, two teens from radically different societies--one highly advanced, the other primitive--hate being dependent on one another until they overcome their prejudices and fall in love, knowing they can't stay together.

Historical Fiction with Romance, Adventure, and Fantasy

Try these books if you're looking for:

• historical fiction
• romance
• adventure
• fantasy

For Darkness Shows the Stars 
By Diana Peterfreund
YA F PETERFRE For Dark #1
It's been generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology. Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago she refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing familial duty over love. Now Elliot's estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to a group of shipbuilders, including renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up.

The Shades of Milk and Honey 
By Mary Robinette Kowal
F KOWAL Shades #1
In a Jane Austen-inspired alternate universe, two sisters, one beautiful and the other skilled in the glamour arts, test the limits of their gifts on an unscrupulous suitor.

The American Heiress 
By Daisy Goodwin
F GOODWIN
Presents the story of vivacious Cora Cash, whose early twentieth-century marriage to England's most eligible duke is overshadowed by his secretive nature and the traps and betrayals of London's social scene.

Swept Off Her Feet 
by Hester Browne
F BROWNE
Enlisted by her straight-laced sister to value various objects in a friend's dilapidated Scottish castle, antiques dealer Evie Nicholson is swept up in plans for a romantic ball while uncovering scandalous secrets about an Edwardian woman and falling for her host.

The Flight of Gemma Hardy 
By Margot Livesey
F LIVESEY
After her widowed father drowns, Gemma Hardy leaves Iceland to live with family in Scotland where she encounters many difficulties as she grows up. Eventually she accepts a post as an au pair on the Orkney Islands where she finds herself attracted to her employer, Mr. Sinclair. When Gemma returns briefly to Iceland to search for her family she understands more about herself. This story is set in the 1950s and 60s.